


We Must Protect the Spiderbaby!

by somelonelyfan



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Civil War (Marvel), Domestic Avengers, Gen, Hurt Peter Parker, I'm Bad At Tagging, My First Fanfic, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, Peter Parker Has Nightmares, Peter Parker cant thermoregulate, Peter Parker is Worthy, Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Whump, tony stark is a little shit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-06-08
Packaged: 2019-10-05 22:47:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 14,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17333840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somelonelyfan/pseuds/somelonelyfan
Summary: a series of one shots about tony acting like peters dad, mostly.





	1. A worthy spiderling.

**Author's Note:**

> okay so this is my first fan fic. It's irondad. feel free to leave suggestions in the comments.  
> :)

Peter was at the tower, with Tony in the lab, when a commotion downstairs distracted them, and Friday said their presence was requested downstairs. Tony and Peter wandered into the living room, surprised to find the others had all gathered together, and Thor stood next to them. Loki leaned awkwardly on a wall, clearly uncomfortable, and Bruce was greeting the others happily. Tony sat down, and Peter slumped down next to him. Thor began to talk, explaining how Asgard had fallen in Ragnarok, and how the Asgardians and the prisoners from Sakar had come to earth for a temporary home. After his story, Thor pulled an axe from behind his back.  
"As my sister destroyed Mjolnir, I have a new axe. It also can be carried only by the worthy.” They, began to take turns attempting to lift the axe. Tony didn’t bother. He wouldn’t be able to lift it, and he was quite comfortable with Peter sprawled across his lap, using him as a pillow. Peter refused when someone asked him if he wanted a turn, saying there was no point, as his ‘worthiness to rule Asgard had nothing to do with how good a person he was, and that he was too tired to stand up. Tony laughed, running a hand through his hair. Could anyone be more precious? 

A few minutes later, Pepper stuck her head through the door and told them she had made cookies. Everyone surged toward the door. There were cookies on the line. Peter tripped over, crashing into the glass table and shattering it. Pieces of glass scattered across the floor, with Peter in the middle, looking extremely embarrassed.  
"Ooow.” Tony laughed, offering him a hand. Peter took it, unable to meet his eyes. A blush began to spread across his face. Once Peter was standing, Tony let go. Immediately, Peter stumbled, trying to use Thor's axe to steady himself and knocking it over. Tony caught him again before he hit the ground, and Peter leaned back on him, muttering,  
"Thanks, Dad.” The room froze, and Tony's eyes widened.  
"Did you just call me… Dad?” Peter turned an impressively bright shade of red. He cursed internally. Why did he have to say that? And now, in front of the entire Avengers too? The heroes in question were watching in surprise, unsure how to respond. They had never seen Tony act quite so domestic before, in fact a few had been wondering if perhaps they were somehow related, but both the boys reaction to the name made it quite clear they were not. Tony was almost frozen in shock, and Peter looked like he wanted the ground to swallow him up.  
"What?! N-no, I… um. Cookies?” Peter looked on the verge of tears now, terrified of the older mans reaction. Tony's surprise morphed into his signature smirk.  
"Flawless, kid. Well, at least it's not 'Mr Stark', I've been trying to stop that for months." Peter giggled quietly, relief washing across his face when he realized he was not going to get in trouble for his slip up. Tony even looked slightly pleased at name. The genius laughed, and hugged him with one arm.  
"Come on. We've got to get to the cookies before birdbrain does. ” Cint took offense, and sprinted of towards the kitchen to spite them, and they wandered of towards the kitchen after him. The others followed, confused. How was Tony so okay with this all? That didn't seem like him. Never the less there were cookies to be eaten, and more importantly, Pepper’s cookies. Pepper made very good cookies. Thor, however, didn't move, instead picking up his axe and inspecting it closely. Noticing this, Loki turned in the doorway.  
"Brother?” Thor looked up.  
"He is… Worthy. He could not have knocked over the axe otherwise.” Loki considered this, and laughed quietly.  
"How curious. And he doesn’t care to know..." A moment of silence past, the brothers both deep in thought. Then, shaking his head to clear it of the strange thoughts, Loki offered his brother his hand. "Come brother. Cookies.”

The Avengers squabbled over the cookies like toddlers. Peter had to eat his on the ceiling to stop someone from stealing them, and Tony retreated as soon as possible. As he backed from the room, Cookies in hand, Loki tapped him on the shoulder.  
"Stark"  
"Yes?"  
"Your son-”  
"Wha-oh, Peter isn’t my son-"  
"That is quite beside the point. Your son is worthy." Tony blinked, confused.   
"He can wield my obnoxious brothers axe. No one but else has been able to in a very long time. He doesn’t care to rule Asgard, but he has free passage through the bifrost. This may be of use, so I thought you must know.” Tony nodded, considering the information. Loki slipped into the kitchen. Tony glanced back at Peter, sitting on the ceiling and eating cookies, before continuing down the hall, hiding a proud smile.  
"Well of course he is," Tony thought, "He's the best there is."


	2. Phone call

Peter was bored. Very bored. They weren’t learning anything new. It was so boring! A sharp chime distracted him from his musings.Peters phone was ringing. In class. Quickly, he pulled it out to deny, before seeing who it was.Shit. Mr Stark! He couldn't just not reply, it might be important! He might need spiderman! His teacher was glaring at him.   
“Uuuhh’” What should he do?  
"Refuse the call, or I’ll answer it,” she told him sharply.  
"It might be important!”  
"Then give it to me.” Sheepishly, Peter handed over his phone. He didn’t have a choice. The teacher put it on speakerphone and accepted the call.  
"Hello, this is one of Peter’s teachers,” she spoke coldly, “Students are not allowed to receive calls in class.” Tony hummed judgingly.  
"Well, tell Peter I need him.”  
"It’s on speakerphone, I can hear you, along with the rest of the class.” He crossed his fingers, hoping Tony would get the hint and NOT embarrass him.  
"Well then move your arse, i’m coming to pick you up.” Mr Stark was picking him up! It must be serious then. His classmates stifled a few laughs at Tony’s word. Peter could also see a few confused faces, almost recognising the voice. Apparently, the teacher also found it familiar.  
"Excuse me, but who are you? Peter only has one legal guardian, May Parker. You are listed as ‘dad’, but Peter’s father and uncle are both dead.” Peter looked down at his feet. He was embarrassed by how he listed Tony, but the teachers bluntness about Ben and Richard's death was what really got to him. It still hurt to think about Ben. Flash laughed, and added,  
" Poor Penis Parker already killed his dad and uncle.” Peter blinked back tears, the words cut like a knife.  
"Great way to talk about a sensitive topic. SO polite. Really, Pete? Dad?” Peter blushed.  
“Ned changed it as a joke.”  
“And you didn’t change it back?”  
"I never got around to it.” Truthfully, Peter hadn’t wanted to, and he was certain Tony knew that. “Can we talk about this later?” Behind him, the classroom door swung open. Tony stepped in.  
"But this is SOO much more entertaining.” Tony smirked at him. Peter rolled his eyes. The genius dropped his phone onto Peter’s desk to pick up Peter’s bag. The young hero barely noticed Tony grabbing his phone from the teacher, slipping it into his bag and dumping the bag on his desk. He was staring at the text that scrawled across the screen. 

Just ended call with: My kid

Did Mr Stark really think of him like a son? It seemed to good to be true. It was a joke, surely. Tony smirked knowingly and slid the phone into his pocket.  
"You might want to blink, kid. Come on, I need a hand on the nano tech, there's something I’m not getting, a new pair of eyes might help.”  
“So you're pulling me out of school in the middle of the day?”  
“Don’t even try to tell me you weren’t bored out of your mind.”  
“Pepper’s going to kill you.”  
“Only if she finds out, come on, move. Oh yeah, another thing. Penis Parker?” he said, turning to Flash. “Is that the best you could do? I’m disappointed. Don’t even bother bullying people if you can’t think up a good insult”  
Peter sighed.  
“Mr stark, stop it!” Tony laughed, made some vague threats involving suing and never getting into MIT if the press heard a word of what had just happened to his classmates, and strode from the room.  
“Did you really just get me to help you with the nanotech?”  
“Yep. Did you expect any less of me? Y’know, that Flash guy’s a dick.”  
“How do you even know who he is?”  
“I’m a genius, aren’t I. It’s not hard to hack the cameras and keep an eye on the spiderbaby.” Tony flashed him a smile and Peter let out a long suffering sigh.  
"You’re the worst, Mr Stark.”  
"Not dad? I’m insulted, kid,” Tony said with a fake hurt look.  
"Not, son?” Peter mocked back.  
"Meh, kid sounds better. You won't believe how many times Rhodey teased me for calling you,’My kid’ though.”   
“He was joking. Of course he was joking. This was just a joke. He didn’t really think of Peter like his son,” Peter told himself. “He was Tony Stark, why would he care about Peter?” Tony looked at him closely.  
"You know I’m not joking, right? I really do care.” Tony suddenly discovered he had an armful of teen. Peter buried his face in Tony’s chest, holding him tightly. Tony ran a hand through the kids hair, feeling warmth bubble up in his chest..  
"I have to warn you, I’ll be a terrible father.”  
"You’re already a great one. Love you Dad.” Tony was not tearing up in the slightest.

Not a chance.


	3. Support pillars

Peter wanted to know about Siberia.  
"Please please please, Mr Stark?” Tony sighed, looking up from the gauntlet he was upgrading. The accords had come up, interfering with Spiderman, and Peter wanted to understand the situation. After Tony had explained the lead up to the airport fight, Peter had nodded and looked at him.  
"So you were both being stupid and stubborn?”  
"Yeah, basically.”  
"Well, why didn’t you just try to talk it out.”  
"Cause that went so well in Siberia,” he murmured under his breath, forgetting the kids super hearing. Now Peter was begging for an explanation.  
"Please, Mr Stark, I-”  
"Just shut it, kid.” Ah, shit, that came out harsher than he meant it to. Peter fell dead silent, looking down at the little robot he had been making, blinking back tears. Fuck, he made the kid cry. Peter had just wanted to help. God, he was a terrible person.   
"Kid… sorry for snapping, it’s just… not something I want to talk about.” Peter nodded, not looking up.   
"It’s just… this evil guy, he showed me a video of Bucky… he killed my parents, back when he was being controlled by Hydra. I went a little crazy because Steve knew, and he didn’t tell me, but he protected Bucky, and he almost killed me and it HURT.” Tony was surprised by his own admission. He was even more surprised to find Peter hugging him. How had the kid even moved that fast? He considered pushing the kid away, but before he could second guess himself, he hugged the kid tightly. It helped a little, to know that Peter was there. When he stood up, he ruffled Peters hair.  
"Thanks, kid. Anyway, I need more coffee.” Peter beamed up at him.  
"It’s okay. I’m happy to help.” The kid trailed after him. “ I- I think you need a… middle man. So you can talk, but they can stop you from killing each other.” Tony smiled down at him.  
"Good idea.” The kid smiled again, over the moon at Tony’s compliment. Peter was so happy, it warmed Tony’s heart.

Peter was so terrified.  
"But what if you start fighting?”  
"Then web us up.”  
"B-but your Ironman. And- and Captain America. I-I can’t just-” Tony smirked. It was his press smirk- the one that always meant trouble.  
"He should be here any minute, kid. You should stop hyperventilating before he shows up.” Peter stared at him with wide eyes. Then he spun to face the door, sitting up straight. Tony didn’t even have time to react before Steve pushed open the door. The rebel Avenger looked around the warehouse they had organised to meet in, where the government officials who weren’t so willing to forgive and forget would not find them. 

Steve looked at Peter.  
"You said neutral moderator. He was on your side at the airport, Tony.”  
"He didn’t have all the facts. Now he does. I believe his wording was, ‘you were both being stupid and stubborn’. He doesn’t have favorites, or ulterior motives.” Steve looked doubtful, and picked up his shield, which Tony had bought as a peace offering.  
"So… the accords.” Tony shook his head.  
"The accords were stupid. We do need some sort of control, but they were to much. That, however, is not what we need to talk about. We need to talk about what happened in Siberia. If we don’t, you know as well as I do, we won’t be able to work together. We were both being unreasonable. Agreed?”  
"Don’t you need Bucky for this?” Tony sighed and shook his head.  
"No. Bucky was not in control when he killed my parents. My problem is that you kept it from me, and left me for dead in Siberia.” Peter didn’t like the way this was going.  
"I betrayed you? You tried to kill me!.”Steve exclaimed.  
"Guys! Calm down,” Peter begged.  
"Yes, Steve, you did.” Steve hurled away his shield, yelling back at Tony. Peter barely heard him. He couldn’t breathe. The shield was embedded in the support pillar. Warehouse. Support pillar. The walls seemed to close in on him. Oh god, he was going to die, and he would never prove to Mr Stark he was good enough and he didn’t need the suit and ohnoohnoohnoohno. 

Tony and Steve were yelling, letting out all the pent up anger that had been building for weeks. The warehouse echoed with their anger. The quiet sob was barely audible, but both heard it, glancing toward the noise.  
"Peter?” Tony asked, secret identities forgotten in shock at the sight before him. The kid was curled in a ball, hands over his ears, crying quietly. The boys sobs stabbed at his heart. Tony walked up to the young superhero, sitting down in front of him. Something deep in his chest screamed at him that he had fucked up badly, that Peter’s panic attack was his fault, but he didn’t know why, and he didn’t know what had triggered it. Hell, he didn’t even know Peter had Panic attacks till now. Nevertheless, Peter’s panic was infectious ant he couldn’t seem to blink or breathe.   
"He’s having a panic attack.” His voice was very quiet in the huge echoing space, and did nothing to help Steve’s confusion. Why was Tony so shocked? Everyone was a little messed up, they all had their mental scars. It was to be expected, in their line of work. Something about the heros crys did seem… off, though. Almost childlike.  
"He can’t breathe.” True, the mysterious heroes chest jerked, unable to fill with air. More surprisingly, Tony looked like he was on the verge of tears. Tony Stark did not cry in front of people. He certainly didn’t cry over some hero being messed up. Tony reached out for the mask.   
"Kid?” Why was Tony calling the hero ‘kid’? Tony pulled off the mask.   
Ohhh.  
The hero was a teen, no more than 16.  
"Breathe. Peter! Breathe, please.” There was desperation in Tony’s voice, He was freaking out almost as much as the kid.  
"Tony. He’s a kid. A kid!” Tony spun around to face him.   
"You think I don’t know that? You think I don’t freak out every time he gets hurt? You think i don’t regret bringing him to Germany? There’s a reason I made him a million dollar suit, full of all the safety protections I could think of. I hate seeing him risk his life to make the world better, but I can’t stop him. I’m just praying he doesn’t die, because it would kill me too.” Tony fell silent, wiping angrily at a tear that had leaked from the corner of his eye. Another whimper drew their attention. Tony dropped to his knees, murmuring assurances to the kid. Finally, he looked up at Tony, pausing for a second before catapulting himself into Tony’s arms and burying his face in Tony’s shirt. The billionaire froze in shock for a second, before wrapping his arms around him in return.   
After a second Steve asked, "What happened?” The boy looked up at him, blushing, and quickly shuffled out of Tony’s arms and looked back down at the floor.  
"It… your shield,” Steve and Tony looked at where the shield was, embedded in one of the concrete pillars, confused.  
"It was after you took away my suit, on Homecoming night,” he said looking at Tony,  
"Before me and the vulture fought on the plane, I found him in a warehouse and- and he took out the support pillars. It… fell on me. I managed to get out after a while but… ever since...I get nightmares.” Tony hugged the kid tightly. He obviously cared, and he was like a different person when the kid was involved. Once the two heroes had calmed down, Steve spoke up.  
"So, really impartial middleman.”   
"Just because he’s like my dad or something, doesn’t mean I don’t know when he’s being stupid.” Steve laughed at, partially at his words, and partially at how surprised Tony was at the words ‘My dad or something.” Steve sighed.  
"Yeah, we were both pretty stupid. I’m sorry, Tony. Given what you had been through, your behavior was to be expected.”he admitted. Tony nodded.  
"How do you feel about moving back into the compound? There’s a lot for us to work through, but we should start now.” Steve nodded and turned to leave. As he walked out of the building, He heard Peter speak.  
"Mr Stark, will I get to meet the Avengers? Will they hate me? I don’t want them to hate me.” Tony laughed.  
"They won’t hate you, kid. They’ll love you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These are the three i already had, written and edited, but i have a few more ready to edit, so i'll probably upload a couple more over the next few days before slowing down even more. :)


	4. Hibernation

There was a downside to Peter's spider powers. Spiders couldn’t thermo-regulate, so he was terrible with cold. Normally, that was fine, he would just skip patrol on bad snow days, wrap up in a few more layers, and keep on his suits heater. He felt a bit guilty, but it was fine. Queens needed a functioning Spider-Man, getting hypothermia wouldn’t help anyone. However, when Mr Stark had called him to help with some evil guy downtown, he couldn’t refuse, even if it was freezing outside. It was Tony Freaking Stark, how could he not?

Tony was on the river bank, fighting some guy with knock off Iron man armor. The jerk had some innocent stranger at gunpoint, making the whole thing far more complicated.  
“Fri, can you call Pete, please? I may need a hand.”  
“Of course, sir.”

Peter arrived a few minutes later. Half way through his speech about how Tony could never be truly powerful as long as he still paid attention to the normal people without powers, a spiderweb darted out of the sky, yanking the bystander to safety, and a particular spider-boy swung in. The crazy dude spun around, firing his off brand repulsor right into Peter’s stomach, and sending him flying backwards. Tony made use of the distraction, attacking the copycat, throwing him to the ground. The man returned fire, but his suit was nowhere near the quality of Tony’s, and it only took him a minute to knock him out and obliterate his suit. After the police took the wannabe villain into custody, Tony glanced around, noticing Peter’s unexplained absence.  
Pushing away the worry building in his chest, Tony asked, ”Fri, where’s Peter?”  
"He is in the river. I suggest you remove him from it immediately.” Tony took off.  
“Fri, take me to him NOW. What’s wrong with him? ”  
“ Hypothermia is setting in, and he can not hold his breath much longer.” Tony swore, ignoring the ice cold water surrounding him as he sank further into the river.

Peter was sinking. Every second took him deeper into the icy water. Somewhere in the back of his mind, something was screaming at him to swim up, to move, but panic seized his bones and he couldn't do anything. Cold stabbed into his limbs. He couldn’t breathe. Water pressed in on him from every direction. In the corner of his vision, he could see a strange blue light and the distorted roar of rockets rang to his ears, but he barely noticed, because he was so COLD! Suddenly, a metal arm wrapped around him, pulling him up into the air. The icy water fell away, and he could breathe, but he was still too cold to move. Air rushed past and thick snow flurried around him. The sharp wind seemed even harsher than the water. He didn’t feel so cold anymore, he was just… tired. So tired. He could just close his eyes for a second, surely. Peter slipped from consciousness.

Tony stumbled as they landed at the tower. God, that water was cold. His grip on Peter loosened, and the spider ling collapsed.  
"Pete? Kid?” Worry spiked in his chest once more. Peter's lips were beginning to turn blue, and he showed no sign of waking. The boys breaths became shallower with every passing second.  
“Peter!” Tony dragged the young vigilante inside, dropping him on the couch in the living room.  
“Friday, do you have any idea what might be wrong? This isn’t normal.”  
“I am not certain, sir, but it appears that many breeds of spider hibernate during the winter, and Peter has not gone on patrol as Spider-Man on any of the coldest days this winter. It is possible that the cold water triggered this instinct. I would suggest that you keep the room warm, wrap him in a blanket, and remove his suit.”  
“What about the heater in it?”  
“He has had the heater on almost constantly while on patrol for quite some time. It appears to have malfunctioned from overuse.” Tony sighed. Of course it had. He quickly removed Peter's suit, replacing it with an old MIT hoodie of his and an abundance of blankets. By the time Peter was wrapped up in all the blankets Tony could find, his lips had returned to their normal shade, and his eyes were blinking open.  
“Wha-?”  
“You tried to go into hibernation, kid.” Peter blushed.  
“Sorry, it’s usually fine, as long as I don’t stay out in the snow for too long.”  
“You should have told me, I can put something in your suit to help.” Peter looked away, uncomfortably.  
"So. Any other hideous drawbacks to behind a spider ling you somehow forgot to mention?” Peter shook his head, not meeting Tony's eyes.  
"What aren’t you telling me, and why aren’t you telling me?” Peter spoke slowly.   
“It’s not normal. I’M not normal. I’m freaky and not human and-” Tony quickly interrupted the self-hateful rant.  
“Maybe you’re not entirely normal, but maybe that's not a bad thing. I’m not going to hate you just because you get cold easily. Now out with it. What are you hiding?” Tony quickly steered the conversation away from the emotional stuff, returning to the matter at hand.  
“Well, um, I guess sometimes if I freak out, my senses go, like, even sharper, and it hurts, even just whispers. Ned calls them sensory overloads...” Tony inhaled sharply.  
"And why, pray tell, did you forget to mention this little fact? You need to tell me these things, I can help! For a supposed genius, you can be amazingly stupid.”  
"Quoting Pepper, are you?” Peter tried (and failed) to suppress a smile. Tony gasped in mock insult.  
"How could you? So rude!” At that, Peter collapsed into giggles, and Tony smiled down at him fondly.  
Once Peter had calmed down enough to have a conversation with, Tony asked, "So I’m guessing that the soundproofing I have doesn’t work for you.” Peter nodded sheepishly.   
“ Wanna try and help me make something that will work?” Peter bounced into a sitting position at the offer to work in his lab.  
"Yeah!” Tony smiled even wider at the kids enthusiasm. God, he was doing that a lot.

When Peter relayed this series of events to Ned the next day while they worked on a new Star Wars Lego set, his friend stared at the MIT hoodie, lying on Peter’s bed, forgotten for a solid five minutes.  
“That’s so coool! What even is your life, man?” Peter laughed, pulling on the old hoodie, which was amazingly comfortable.  
“I don’t even know. I just hope Mr Stark doesn’t want this back.”


	5. The airport fight

Tony had found a new superhero. Spider-Man. Nat considered the new member from across the quinjet.  
"So what’s your name?”  
"I have- uh- a secret identity.”  
"You’ll have to share that with the government, under the accords.”  
"Why are you trying to make me fight the accords? Aren’t you on their side?”  
"Because I can’t stop them fighting long enough to talk it out. Maybe you can.” She waited for a reaction. Almost a minute passed.  
"Well, I’m not much of a strategist, but if you have a plan…?”

"Underoos!” Tony’s voice echoed through the airport. A red-blue blur whizzed past, coming to a halt on a nearby car, holding Captain America’s shield and pointing his web shooter at Tony, whose arm was webbed down to the nearest wall.”What the hell?” Tony demanded sharply. Spider-Man stepped forward. He was fiddling with his hands, heart pounding in his chest. Telling himself he HAD to do this, he swallowed down the fear and spoke.  
"I-I can’t let you fight. If you do… you might split up, and then next time something goes wrong… If there’s no more Avengers… I have to stop you. Can’t you talk it out, or something?” He dropped Steve’s shield and webbed them all to the walls nearest to them. Before he got to Clint, the archer leveled his bow at him and loosed an arrow, which Peter dodged with a barely noticeable flinch. Distracted by webbing up the archer, he didn’t notice Bucky swinging his fist toward him until the last second, when Peter spun around and caught the fist, eyes widening further.  
"Oh jeez!” he cried, webbing Bucky to the wall and pretending he wasn’t hiding paralyzing fear behind his mask.  
"Okay.. um, can you like… please talk it out? Like, explain yourselves without fighting?” Peter was shaking slightly, but no one but Nat noticed. Obviously, the hero was terrified. He seemed strangely young and innocent. Maybe Nat shouldn’t have involved him, but she needed the help. Steve and Tony both looked infuriated, so she stepped in.  
"Spider-Man, would you like me to take over? I can try and get them to talk, you’re clearly uncomfortable.” Steve’s head snapped up.  
"Your on their side. That’s not fair.” Nat shook her head.  
"I personally believe the accords are far to strong, but that we should TALK our way out of the situation. I’m not going to take advantage of the situation.” The new hero, Spider-Man, was clearly uncomfortable, and released her to get out of the spotlight, quickly receding into the shadows, pulling off his mask to wipe his eyes once he was out of sight.

An hour passed as the Avengers talked. An agreement was arrived at. The accords would be greatly edited, and Bucky would be forgiven, and taken to Wakanda for healing, to get Hydra’s shit out of his head. Nat walked of to find Spider-Man. She found him hiding behind the building, throwing rocks across the empty airport runway. When she approached, he spun to face her, flinching back from her.  
“We’ve worked out our issues, and come to a decision o the accords. If you could go get rid of those webs, that would be good.” The hero walked past her, unable to meet her eyes. Natasha watched him walk back towards the other, curiously. He behaved differently to any other hero she’d met, so she followed him to the others and watched as he released the heroes. He first released Steve first, and worked his through the heroes, so that he would he would to Stark last. After being released, Steve walked up to Tony.  
"Tony… there’s something else. When Hydra was controlling him… Bucky... it wasn’t his fault.”  
“What?” Tony asked sharply. Steve looked away, unable to face him.   
“Your parents… it wasn’t an accident. They were transporting a case of super soldier serum….” Tony froze, mind racing. A silent minute passed.  
"Thank you for telling me,” Tony said stiffly, as Spider-Man walked up and dissolved the webs holding him to the wall. Tony felt anger bubble up inside him. He wanted to scream. He battled against the rage, walking stiffly away from the wall.   
Tony grabbed Peters wrist, bringing him a little away from the others before asking, “What the hell was that? I brought you here to help, not betray me!”  
“B-but-”  
“No, this is where you shut it. The adult is talking.” Somewhere in the back of his mind, Tony knew he wasn’t really mad at the kid, he was mad at the world for taking his parents from him, at HYDRA for ruining his life, at himself for being so stubborn, at Steve for telling him, and for taking so long to. But not at Peter. That didn’t stop him taking it out on the kid.

A few minutes later, Tony and Spider-Man returned. Tony stalked off and began to coldly organise the rogue Avengers freedom. Nat walked up to the younger hero.  
"Good job. You really helped. You probably stopped the Avengers from splitting up.” The boy nodded, still not looking up, clearly very upset by his and Tony’s talk. She was willing to bet it was mostly Tony yelling. Nat sat next to him, turning off her perpetual deadly aura and talked to Peter, until he began to talk back. By the time they headed back to their rooms, he seemed to have calmed down and was no longer terrified around her, but still awkward and nervous around the others, especially Tony, who he kept glancing over at. Soon, they were back where they were back in their room, where they were staying till they headed back to New York. Peter was in his room, T’challa was already heading back to his kingdom, and the others were gathered in the common room, minus Tony, who was avoiding them, of course. Steve was the first to speak. He turned to Natasha.”So, who is he? Spider-Man? What have you found out about him?” Natasha considered the question.  
He’s quite young, I think. Younger than Wanda. Excitable, smart -like genius smart-, and fairly insecure, judging by his behavior after Tony got mad at him at the airport. He looks up to you and Tony rather a lot, has an extensive knowledge about us, seems quite sweet. Probably thinks you all hate him after he webbed you all up the airport, definitely thinks Tony hates him. He’s from Queens, I believe. Mentioned his uncle, I think he might have been hurt, and the kid blames himself for it.” Steve nodded.  
"Very strong, given that he caught My fist with one handed.”  
“Enhanced instincts, too. Reflexes like that are not from technology or training. ”  
“Something genetic then. Think Stark did it?” 

Tony frowned. They were talking about Peter like some case study! And suggesting he gave Peter his power’s! He stalked through the common room to the kitchen, making himself a cup of coffee. The others fell absolutely silent, watching him. Maybe the could tell how uncomfortable he was. As he turned to leave, he finally spoke.  
"Spider-Man is a person, not a case study. He has his reasons to want to remain unknown, and if you aren’t going to respect that, then leave him the fuck alone. And no I’m not in the habit of doing GENETIC EXPERIMENTS on CHILDREN.” The door slammed behind him. Tony sighed, wandering the halls and allowing his mind to wander. Nat’s words replayed in his head. ‘Insecure… looks up to you and Tony… thinks you all hate him… definitely thinks Tony hates him…’ Tony swore. He had acted like Howard. He ought to talk to the kid. Crap. He hated emotional conversations. Reluctantly, he made his way over to the young superheroes room.

When Tony opened the door, Peter looked up sharply. The kid was sitting in the middle of his bed, with his knees pulled up to his chest. His eyes were red rimmed from crying. Shit. He made the kid cry. God, he was just like Howard. Peter looked away almost immediately, sniffing.  
"H-hi, Mr Stark. I’m sorry about… I shouldn’t have webbed you up at the airport, I... are you going to send me b-back to New York now?” Tony sat awkwardly on the edge of the bed, sighing.  
"Look, kid… about at the airport, I… I shouldn’t have yelled at you, you did good. I was just...I lost it. It wasn’t your fault. I just- I took it out on you, I shouldn’t have- I’m sorry.” He hung his head. God, he was bad at this.  
"It’s okay, Mr Stark. You had a lot going on, w-with everything… it’s fine.” Tony didn’t miss how his voice shook.  
"No, it’s not okay. I yelled and you and I shouldn't have and I’m sorry, I-” Tony’s apology was cut short. He fell silent, frozen in shock. Peter had wrapped his arms tightly around him, pressing his face into Tony’s chest.  
"It’s okay, Mr Stark. It’s not your fault. I’m more scared that the others will hate me.” The fear in his voice caused a rush of protectiveness in Tony that he would never admit to. Tony wrapped his arms around Peter, who was still clinging to him like a koala.  
“They won’t hate you. You really helped.” Peter looked up at him.  
"Really?” There was so much hope and uncertainty in his voice, and it tugged at Tony’s heart in a way he would absolutely deny if asked.  
“Yeah, kid. They’ll love you.” A wide grin spread across his face. Tony ran a hand through Peter’s hair on instinct. It was something his mother had always done. Peter visibly relaxed at his touch. Jesus, the kid was adorable.  
"Thanks, Mr Stark. For everything. For the suit and stuff.” Tony smiled down at Peter, running his hand through his hair again. He felt another rush of protectiveness.   
“No problem, Underoos.”  
“Stop calling me that, Mr Stark”  
“Nah, it’s funny to see how much it annoys you.” That was enough emotions for today, now he could go back to being a pain in the arse. Peter flashed him a glare, and Tony just smiled and stood up.  
“Come on, lets go introduce you to Captain Spangles.” Peter rolled his eyes, and followed Tony, pulling his mask down over his wide smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading! I t might be a few weeks before I post another, but please leave any suggestions in the comments, I have no idea what I'm doing. :)


	6. Peter meets the Avengers

The Avengers had reunited, and Pepper had insisted he introduce Peter to them. Given that the last secret about one of their teammates had gone down so well that the team had split, Tony had, grudgingly, agreed. Tony waited by the elevator for Peters arrival. Finally, Happy dragged in a shaky Peter Parker.  
“What took so long?” Tony asked, raising his eyebrows.  
“He freaked out in the parking lot, I’m not sure why.” Happy shook his head and left. Tony glanced at his nervous protege.  
“Kid? What’s up?” Peter looked away, fidgeting.  
“It’s, uh, it’s nothing.”Tony sighed.  
“Come on, tell me.” Peter bit his lip.  
“Well, he, um, the Vulture dropped, uh… before the plane I found him in a warehouse and heknockedoutthesupportsanditfellonme.” Peter’s speech speed up as a talked, till Tony could barely understand him. After speaking, he looked away, embarrassed.  
“HE DROPPED A BUILDING ON YOU AND YOU DIDN’T TELL ME!? WHAT THE FUCK, PETER!?”  
“I-it’s fine. I only broke a few ribs and they healed really quickly and I’m fine if I stay out of underground buildings like the warehouse. But when I do, I kinda… freak out.”  
”Freak out?”  
“It’s like i can’t breathe and I’m kinda back there, under all the concrete, and… Yeah. It sucks.”  
“You’ve been having panic attacks?”Tony squeaked,” Thats… Thats not okay, Peter. You’re a teenager. Christ.” He pushed open the door with one hand, still muttering under his breath. On the other side of the door sat the Avengers, who heard the entire conversation. They were all frozen, putting together the facts.   
1-Tony was going to introduce us to Spider-rman.   
2-Tony is here with this teenager.   
3- Tony was talking about him having panic attack, over someone attacking him, as they would a superhero.   
Conclusion- this is Spider-man.  
“As i’m sure you have worked out, this is Spider-man. Peter Parker. Don’t mess up his life, don’t tell anyone else his identity. Bye.” With that, Tony turned and left. Peter waved sheepishly at the Avengers and went to grab some food before joining Tony in his lab. Steve followed Tony, however.  
“Tony. If he dies, that's on you. You brought him into this mess.”  
“You think I don’t know that? Do you think I don’t hate it every time he walks in here bleeding from a gunshot or holding up a broken arm?” Tony hissed back. Before Steve could reply, a quiet voice interrupted their argument.  
“Your wrong. If I die, If i get hurt, that's the fault of whoever hurts me, not Mr Stark. And I don’t care if you think I’m ‘too young’, because guess what, we’re all to young. No one should have to do what we do, no matter how old they are. But we still have to. And you can't stop me. Just like you won’t stop fighting, I won’t, because we can do something. So I’ll keep going out there and getting hurt, because I’m stronger than I should be, because I can hear better than any human should be able to, because I can stick to walls, for god's sake, and I would rather die fighting then just let others suffer and not even try to help.” Speech over, Peter hugged Tony tightly, whispering,”This isn’t your fault, Mr Stark.” Tony smiled gently, wondering what he had done to deserve this wonderful, genius kid. The two turned towards his lab. 

As an afterthought, Peter ran back over to Steve.   
“Oh, another thing, Mr Rogers-” in a deep mockery of Steve’s own voice, he said,” So, you got detention.” Steve groaned  
“Please don’t tell anyone,” he pleaded. Peter just skipped off back to Tony, who wrapped an arm around his shoulder, smiling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to try and post around now every week, but I make no promises. :)


	7. That thing in Siberia

Peter stumbled. This was a bad idea. And he was cold. So cold. But he had to. Peter grit his teeth and focused on the building in front of him, trying to ignore the cold. Peter had come to talk to Mr Stark. After reading the Accords, he had decided to come help to come to a compromise. He was not exactly okay with Steve and his team's decision, but the accords kind of went against everything he stood for, so maybe he could help. Maybe he’d just be kicked out and Mr Stark would never talk to again, but he HAD to try. That was his thing, after all. Doing what was right, no matter the personal consequences Which was why Peter was frozen half to death, stumbling towards the building which contained his, and the worlds, greatest heroes. Step. Breathe. Step. Breathe. He was so tired. So cold. Open the door. Cold. Up the stairs. Another door. Tired. Peter barely had time to register the men in front of him before he passed out.

Tony stared coldly at Steve.   
“So was I.” he couldn’t think straight. This was meant to be a peace mission. Why was it going like this? He couldn’t breathe. His so called friend had betrayed him. Now he was protecting the man who killed Tony’s parents. And it HURT! It was like a knife to the gut. Another betrayal. Why was he even surprised? Suddenly, he heard a creak behind him. Tony spun around at the same time as Steve and Bucky, just in time to see Peter crash to the ground, unconscious. Why was he here? Why was he passed out on the floor? Tony rushed forward, pulling of his mask and propping him up in a sitting position. His lips were pale blue, and his skin was icey.   
“Fuck, um Fri, can you turn on the heater in his suit?” To Tony’s relief, colour quickly began to return to Peters face. Tony stepped backwards, turning to Steve.   
“Don’t even start. Yeah, I know, he’s a kid, but he was already Spider-man, so don’t get mad at me.”  
“You could at least try to stop him!”  
“There are few enough people willing to do good in this world, and even less with the power to actually DO anything.”  
“He’s a kid, Tony!”  
“That’s why I made him that suit. To try to keep him safe.” Tony turned away, ending the argument, and noticing that while they had argued, Bucky had gone to help Peter stumble to his feet.  
“Wh-what?” Peter asked.  
“Thats a good question, kid. I was just about to attack Captain Spangles here because he didn’t think to tell me his best friend murdered my parents when you fainted on the floor. What about you, kid?”  
“Well I read the accords and y'know wanted to help, cause-” Peter was interrupted by a chuckle from Zemo.  
“Peter Parker. How curious. What are the chances?”  
“Chances of what?”asked Tony asked warily.  
“I found out about all of the Winter Soldier’s crimes, discovering the secret that would split the Avengers. A plane crash, easy enough to orchestrate, wasn’t it, Barnes?”  
“I, I don’t-” Bucky stumbled backwards from Peter, eyes widening. Peter sat down heavily. Zemo silently left, thinking that would be enough to start a fight.  
“I-I don’t even remember them,” Peter whispered, tearing up. Tony sat down beside him.  
“Breathe, kid. Breathe.”  
“I-I-” Peter wiped at his eyes, before hugging Tony tightly and pressing his face into the geniuses chest.  
“What are you... Peter?” Tony stuttered, confused.  
“I can’t even remember them, and you… you had to watch… I’m so sorry, Mr Stark.”  
“It’s hardly your fault.” Tony replied, forcing himself to sound even more detached than usual, to hide the shake in his voice. Peter didn’t stop hugging him, however. Behind them, Bucky spoke quietly.  
“I’m sorry. For both of you.”  
“It’s not your fault either,” Tony replied with a sigh. “It was all Hydra.” Tony stood up, lifting Peter with him.  
“I’m still not okay with you keeping it for me, but that… that is a conversation for later.”  
“So… You two aren’t gonna kill each other?”  
“I guess not.”  
“So. The Accords?”  
“I’m not signing them.”  
“Steve, have you ever heard of a compromise?”  
“You can’t compromise with what is right.”  
“Oh for fucks sa-”  
Under his breath, Bucky murmured,”70 years and he’s just as stubborn.”


	8. movie night

The Avengers were having a movie night. Well. afternoon. They were sprawled across the couches, half lying on each other. Tony, ofcourse, was sitting on a chair, seperate from the others.  
“You aren’t going to sit with us? Insulting,” Clint joked.   
“Uh, no. Haven’t you ever heard of personal space?” Tony replied. Just then, Fri interrupted.  
“Boss,Peter Parker has entered the building.”  
“Wait, isn’t that the Spiderkid?” Tony nodded.  
“Damn, I forgot he was coming over today.”  
“He just visits you on the regular?”  
“Well, yeah. We work in my lab. I told you he was a little genius.” Just then, a teenager with a mop of brown hair peeked around the corner.  
“Uh… Mr Stark?” Tony chuckled at the sight.   
“Come on, we’re having a movie night. Over here,” he gestured. Awkwardly, Peter stumbled into the room and perched on the edge of Tony’s chair, staring round at the others.  
“What is.. Why?”   
“We’re having a movie night. Why is that so hard to understand? I forgot you were popping by.” Peter gave him a look.  
“What! I honestly forgot!” Tony exclaimed. Wrapping an arm around Peter, he pulled the teen down into the chair with him. It was a large chair, but not large enough the teen wasn’t sitting partially on his lap, but neither man minded.  
“What happened to ‘Personal Space’?” Sam muttered.

The movies were carefully chosen as to not trigger anyone. Peter had not been taken into account, however. Which was why there was a plane crash in it. Immediately, Tony’s grip tightened on Peter and he glanced down at him. Peter was curling in on himself, squeezing Tony’s hand uncomfortably tight.  
“You okay, kid?”  
“Y-Yeah, I’m fine.”  
“Your a shit liar, kid.”  
“Yeah, luckily I haven’t picked that up from you.”  
“Me? Lie?”  
“Yeah, you. Lie,” Peter smirked. Tony smiled at him and ruffled his hair, causing Peter to bat his hand away. They relapsed into a peaceful silence. Tony’s mind wandered.  
“God, my kid’s adorable. Wait, my kid! He’s not my kid, he’s May’s. Not mine. WHICH IS WHY HE’S FALLING ASLEEP ON ME WHILE WE WATCH A MOVIE. Wait, he’s falling asleep on me? That’s adorable. EXACTLY. MY KID. I mean, it would be kinda nice to have him as my kid- who am I kidding, I would love for him to be my kid. Wait, does HE think of himself as my kid? Oh god, what if I’m like Howard. YEAH, CAUSE HOWARD LET ME USE HIM AS A PILLOW WHILE SURROUNDED BY HIS FRIENDS ALL THE TIME Why am I sassing myself, Damn it?” 

Tony was interrupted from his rambling thoughts by the boom of the credits music, waking the kid asleep on his chest.   
“I can’t believe you fell asleep during the movie.”  
“Neither can I. So It didn’t happen.”  
“That’s not how it works, kid.” Peter smiled widely. Tony returned the look. There was a moment of peaceful silence.  
“So, you’re Spiderman. Mr Parker.” Steve interrupted  
“Uh y-yeah. Peter.”  
“I’ll call you Peter when you call me Steve, not ‘Mr Captain America’” Peter blushed. Tony smirked.  
“I’ve given up.I don’t think he’ll ever call me Tony.” Peter blushed even brighter, looking down at the floor.  
“Jeez, you embarrassed Tony’s kid, guys,” Clint smirked. Peter’s eyes widened, and he stood up.  
“I’m not… I’m leaving. Bye, Mr Stark.” Peter practically hurled himself into the elevator and the doors clanged closed.   
“Uh, that was so embarrassing. Fri, from now on, warn me whenever I’m about to enter a room with any of the Avengers.” Peter slid down to the floor, covering his face with his hands and groaning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm thinking about writing a longer story, but I don't know if i should. Any thoughts?


	9. Officer Jones

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for being so long, I've been buzy with music camp and stuff :) This idea just came from someone complaining that people wouldn't be able to send the criminals caught by Vigilante's to jail, and I just had to write it down.

“Another Spider-man case.” Officer Jones swore. Spider-man was a great guy, he was sure,but whenever he left people webbed up, there was no evidence to convict. Spider-man cases were almost always doomed from the start. With a sigh, Jones glanced through the file. They would never be able to lock these men up, unless they could contact Spider-man, who nobody knew.

Except, of course, Tony Stark, the man who had taken him to Germany and had helped him when the ferry split. Officer Jones almost laughed at the idea. Well, it was worth a shot, right? He pulled out his phone, scrolling down to the number of one of his daughters friends, who worked at Stark Industries.  
“Hey, Mr Jones, how’s MJ?”  
“Good, I was just wondering if maybe I could speak to Tony Stark, you see, there's this case involving Spider-man, and I couldn’t think of any other way to contact him.” She laughed.  
“I’ll see what I can do.” For a short time, there was silence on the other side of the line. He could just hear a conversation between two people on the other side of the line.  
“Hey Sara, what’s up?”  
“There’s a police officer friend of mine, he needs to talk to Spider-man, and the only one who knows him is Tony Stark, so.”  
“Sure, I’ll take it to Ms Potts, she can deal with it.”  
“Thanks.” Jones shook his head. He couldn’t believe that this was working. Another few minutes past, and the Phone changed hands again. Silence reigned once more, and then he heard a muffled call.  
“Hey, Tony, come over here. There was another hushed conversation.  
“Hello, this is Tony Stark.”  
“Hello. I’m Officer Jones-”  
“Any relation to Michelle Jones?”  
“How do you know my daughter?”  
“She’s a friend of my interns, Peter Parker. Anyway, this was about Spider-man.” What??  
“Uh- Yeah, you see, when Spider-man leaves criminals webbed up, we often don’t have any evidence, so we have to let them go. They’re dud cases. It seems silly to keep letting them go, but we can’t contact him, so…”  
“My god, I never thought of that. Here, I’ll send you the Baby monitor footage-”  
“The what?”  
“That’s what I call the protocol for recording and monitoring what happens while Spidey’s in his suit, is that all?”  
“Well, if we could get the footage of the past few days, and you keep sending it to us, that should be all.”   
“No problem. If you need to call me again, go through Peter, it’ll be quicker.”  
“Of course. Thank you.” Tony hung up. For a few seconds, he stared at the phone. A younger officer stuck his head through the door.  
“Are you OK?”  
“Ye- Yeah. Could you send me all the current Spider-man cases, please?”  
“Uhh, OK, sir.” Jones got to work.

Somewhere along the line, Officer Jones became ‘The Spider-Cop’. He forwarded the video’s, but he ended up with the Spider-Man cases anyway. Someone even drew spider webs on the nameplate on his desk.


	10. Homecoming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happens after Homecoming.

Tony frowned, looking around the crash site. Broken pieces of the airplane sprawled across the beach. At least the fires had burnt out. He strode through the wreck, letting his mind wander. What had happened? A voice pulled him from his musing.  
“Tony Stark, I presume. Tony spun to face the vulture. I assume you made Peter his suit.” He was webbed to a large piece of wreckage with a note next to him.  
‘Sorry about the plane - Spider-Man’  
Peter had been here? The Vulture had found out his identity?  
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to tell anyone who he is. He’s different from you other heroes. You kill bad guys. He… he saves people. Saved me. Dragged me out of the fire.” Tony smiled softly.  
“He’s the best of us”  
“Take care of him. He wasn’t in great shape when he left.”  
“How bad?”  
“He crashed a plane and fought a man in a metal suit. How bad do you think?” Tony swore.  
“Thanks for warning me,” he nodded, and left quickly.  
“Friday, can you trace him?”  
“I’m afraid not. He isn’t wearing the suit, and his phone appears to be lying in the wreckage, where I presume it was dropped during the fight.” Tony sighed as his suit formed around him.   
“To his apartment, then,” he said.

Tony arrived at the apartment before Peter did. He sat on a nearby rooftop and waited, his mind wandering. He should never have taken the suit, he shouldn’t have gotten mad. Peter had only sent Happy one text since the ferry. He had simply said ‘Sorry’. Honestly, Tony missed the cheerful voicemails and baby monitor videos, playing in the background as he fiddled in the lab. 

A loud thump and a heart wrenching sob pulled Tony from his musings. He leapt up and flew forward. Peter had collapsed on the fire escape outside his window, breathing shakily and clutching his ribs in a worrying manner. He was bruised and exhausted. Tony was at his side in an instant.  
“Peter! Peter! Look at me.” The kid looked up. Tony pulled back his mask to see that his eyes were glazed with pain. Tony shifted him into his arms, causing Peter to whimper in a way that caught in his chest. Tony flew up into the air, towards the compound, which would have an at least slightly functioning med bay.   
“You should never have taken the suit. Your just like Howard.,” hissed a traitorous part of Tony’s mind. He just tightened his grip on Peter and grit his teeth.  
“Well now I’m going to be better,” he told himself.

Helen did a double take at the sight of Tony Stark carrying a Teenager into her med bay, especially one in such bad condition.   
The older man but down Peter in a bed, telling her, “He’s Spider-Man. He got hurt. Can you… can you help him?” Helen quickly inspected the kid.  
“He should be fine. I’ve got him, Tony.” The genius relaxed.   
A quiet voice behind them whispered,”Mr Stark, I’m sorry. I know… I know you said not to go after him but I couldn’t get a message to you or Happy, and I had to stop him.”  
Tony felt a twist of guilt in his stomach as he turned around to face Peter.  
“Kid, your fine. You did good.I shouldn't have taken the suit. You- I’m proud of you.” Peters eyes widened in surprise.  
“There were no casualties, in case you’re wondering.” Peter relaxed a little.  
“Th- thank you, Mr Stark.. Sorry about your plane. And the warehouse.”  
“What warehouse?” Peter blushed and looked away.  
“Well? What Warehouse?”  
“I- uh- the vulture dropped- uh- he dropped a building on me. Uh- he took out all of the support pillars and it fell on me and it- I couldn’t breathe and it knocked me out and then I kinda panicked because I was alone and was calling for help but nobody came, but- but I got out, it’s fine, “ Peter babbled, before gasping a breath, trying to release the tightness in his chest. Tony didn’t miss the fear that flickered across Peters face at the thought of the warehouse. Tony grabbed Peter’s hand.   
“Hey, uh, Peter, if you get nightmares, like, really bad ones then tell me about them, OK?” Peter looked up at him in surprise.  
“I-I’ve had a few really bad nightmares about nearly- nearly drowning. I- you think I’ll get more?” Tony’s heart ached for Peters.  
“You might. But if you do… talk to me?” Peter nodded.  
“Do… do you?”  
“Do I what?”  
“Get… get nightmares?” Tony was caught of guard by the question. He went to deny it but… that would be rather hypocritical, wouldn't it?  
“Yeah, sometimes.”  
“You can talk to me about them if you want to,” Peter said. Tony smiled at him, warmth bubbling up in his chest.  
“I’ll talk to you, kid. I promise.” Peter relaxed into the hospital bed and let his eyes close  
“Thank you.”  
“No problem, kiddo.”


	11. It's his birthday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony is upset because Peter was taken by the snap.

The avengers had re-assembled. The few that remained were gathered in the compound. For now they found comfort in each others presence, but Tony knew that soon enough, they would need a scapegoat, without one they would fall apart even more than they already had. That scapegoat would, ofcourse, be Tony. Why? Because Tony Stark was fine. Pepper had survived. Rhodey had survived. He himself had survived. And it’s not like Tony had ever let anyone else close, not really. At least, not that they knew about. But he could take it, he was used to it by now. It wasn’t like he would be with them, he would work in his lab. He would fix this. He would bring back Peter.

It had been three months. Tony had barely even spoken to the others, but it didn’t matter. He was close, so very close. Tony dragged himself out of bed. It was ridiculously early, but he only ever slept enough to stop himself collapsing anyway. The nightmares wouldn’t let him sleep any more than that. Stark stumbled down the hall, pulling out his phone to check the time. He caught sight of himself in the dark screen. God, he looked like shit. Shaking his head, he tapped the screen to check the time. 4:30am, August 10th. Tony stopped walking. It was Peters Birthday. Fuck it. Tony wiped a tear from his cheek.  
I’m sorry  
Tony wouldn't be able to do anything, he knew it. So, today… Tony paused. He had sworn never to get drunk, and he had truly meant to keep it. But he couldn’t. He couldn't get through the day without losing himself. 

Tony walked into the kitchen and grabbed the first bottle he saw.  
“Weren’t you meant to be staying sober? And working? Aren’t you are only hope?” Tony was surprised to find he wasn’t alone. Steve was slumped in a couch, looking exhausted. It was him who had spoken. Beside him sat Clint with a bottle in his hand. Tony’s grip tightened on the bottle. He couldn’t do this, not today.  
“Who did you lose?” Tony knew it was the alcohol talking, but it still felt like a knife to the gut.. He didn’t have the right to mourn for Peter. He wasn’t Tony’s son. They weren’t that close, really. He kept telling himself that, at least.  
“You didn’t have to hold the ashes of your kid.”

I don’t feel so good.

“You didn’t watch your loved one die”

I don’t wanna go

Tony’s hands were shaking as he stumbled backwards, dropping the bottle.  
”I-I can’t-” Tony shoved through the door. He was crying now. He slammed his back against the wall, trying desperately to calm his breath. The door opened, and Tony flinched back.  
“Tony?! Are you okay?” Steve seemed shocked.  
“He- it’s my fault. I have to save him.”

I’m sorry

“Who? Who was it.?”  
“Peter,” Tony breathed, his name was Peter.” Tony turned away and hurried toward his lab, leaving a surprised Steve in his wake.

Late that morning, when Clint had slept it off, Steve turned to Rhodey.  
“Who’s Peter?”  
“What?”  
“Peter. The person Tony lost.” Rhodey glanced down at his hands. I’m not sure. I think I’ve heard him say the name, but I don’t know… I don’t know who it is.” Or, Was.” Pepper glanced over.  
“Peter… Peter was his kid. Why?”  
“He mentioned it. Early this morning, he came in. He and Clint had a little… Argument. He was trying to get drunk, I think. He’s been hiding in his lab ever since.”Pepper froze.  
“It’s his birthday.”  
“What?”  
“It’s Peter’s birthday. Quickly, she stood up, and hurried towards his lab

The lab was mostly in disarray, a mess off half made machines and parts. In one corner, the couch sat tucked away. On it sat Tony. He was a mess. His hair was a mess, he was wrapped in a blanket with tear tracks down his cheeks, hugging a Spiderman plushie to his chest. Steve and Clint stopped in the doorway, Rhodey stopped just in front of them. Pepper rushed forward to Tony, and sat next to him.  
“You wanna talk about it?” Tony shook his head.  
“Okay.” Pepper sat in silence beside him.  
“...He… He wa just a kid. A kid, Pep. His Spidey sense- god, I can’t believe I just called it that- it told him, just before he turned to- to-”

I don’t wanna go.

“He could feel it.It HURT him…”

I‘m sorry.

“He apologized to, just before he died He- he knew that his death would hurt me.”

And if you die,I feel like that's on me

“He knew I’d blame myself…. Oh, god. Why-why was it him? Why not me?” Pepper had known her Fiance cared about the boy, but not THAT much. She wrapped him up in a tight hug.  
“Because we need you to do all this.”  
“Why? He was just as smart as me.. Smarter, even. And kind, not narcissistic, even though he was so smart. He-he was going to be someone, someone important someday.”  
“And he still is, once you save him,” Pepper promised. A few silent seconds ticked by. Steve stepped forward.  
“I’m sorry. I-I didn’t know.” Clint babbled his apologies.  
“Shut up, you sound like the kid,” Tony replied motioning them to leave, “Now piss off, I’ve got stuff to do.” All the same, Tony was smiling.


	12. Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter has nightmares about Homecoming night.

  Scared. Sinking. Down and down. Water. Can’t breathe. Cold. Help. Help! Squashed. Can’t breathe. Pain. Concrete. So heavy. Can’t move. Pain. Fire. Twisted metal. Burning heat. Save me. Savemesavemesaveme- 

 

  Peter sat up in bed, gasping for breath. Tears streamed down his face. For a moment he sat in shock, before collapsing back onto his bed, sobbing. It had been almost a week since he fought Toomes. He had turned down being an Avenger, his aunt had found out he was Spider-Man, and the nightmares had begun. The lake, the warehouse, the crash. All three. They haunted his dreams. He hadn’t had a single night of sleep that didn’t end up in tears. He was always sleepy, but scared to sleep. Unable to concentrate, or hyper aware of every part of his surroundings to the point it hurt. Small spaces closed in on him, the slightest gust of wind and he was falling, falling, going to die and drown and no one would save him! A candle flame became the burning plane wreck. Peter felt trapped in his head.

Once Peters breath had steadied, he sat up and pulled out his homework. He knew that he wouldn’t sleep again that night. Morning dawned painfully brightly. School blurred together He almost fell asleep in Spanish. Finally, he wandered from school, once again hyper aware. He could hear the laughter of the other kids across the school grounds, smell the aroma of the nearby cafeteria, feel the vibration of the engine of the sleek black car in the corner of the car park, and that of the man leaning on it, his foot tapping against the ground in impatience. Wait, was that-

“Happy?” The man in question frowned.

“Get in.” 

“What?”

“Tony invited you to work in his lab. Didn’t he tell your aunt? Peter shook his head slowly. Happy sighed deeply, telling him to get in and sorting out the issue as he drove.

 

  Tony wasn’t sure why he had decided to invite Peter to his lab, perhaps he was feeling guilty about pushing him away, but he had, and now, as he considered the kid before him, he was glad he had. The annoying fanboying and endless awkwardness had fallen away when he turned his focus to his web shooters which Tony had gotten him to attempt to improve. Despite his intense concentration, Peter had an air of exhaustion that Tony knew all too well, not on Peter, though, that worried him.

“You look tired.”

“Wh-what? N-no, I’m fine.” FRIDAY interrupted to announced that Peter should leave now if he wanted to get home in time. Tony would admit that FRIDAY’s voice was loud, but not wince-and-grit-your-teeth loud, even with his enhanced senses, which was what Peter was doing. Peter left quickly, leaving Tony behind to consider his strange behavior.

  It was a week later when Peter came again. He was far worse, looking like he hadn’t slept since last time they had met. Tony was painfully reminded of a less than pleasant occasion he stayed awake for over 72 hours before passing out- come to think of that, it had happened a few times. Nevertheless, Peter shouldn’t be that tired. The bad sleeping pattern must have affected his senses too, because sounds Tony could barely hear made him wince, and he pressed his eyes closed when ever he dared.

“Have you slept at all since we last met?” Peter looked away For the past two nights, he had kept himself awake. He was scared to sleep.

“Look, sleep on the couch.”

“Wha-what? No. I’m- I’m fine”

“You can’t work in a lab like that.” Tony was rather glad that neither Rhodey nor Pepper was there, because they would be out right laughing at the idea of  _ him _ trying to get someone to sleep. Peter, nodded, looking uncomfortable and almost scared, but not willing to argue. He sat down on the couch, shifting every two seconds. FRIDAY dimmed the lights, and made the lab as quiet as possible. Tony sat as quietly as possible, not wanting to disturb Peter. Peter was to relieved to insist they didn’t bother, which was a bad sign.

 

  Soon enough Peter had drifted off, despite his best attempts to stay awake. Tony relaxed, glad to know Peter was okay, and went back to work. Almost half an hour passed before Tony heard a whimper behind him. Tony spun around immediately to find the kid curled up on the couch, shaking, with tears streaking down his face. For a moment, he stared in mute horror. It didn’t make sense. The sweet, excitable kid he barely knew, the bouncy teen who even when badly hurt wanted to help, could not be having nightmares like this. He- he couldn’t. On the couch in front of him,  Peter broke down into heart wrenching sobs. Tony stumbled forward, falling to his knees by the couch. He wiped away the tears from Peter's face before dropping his hand into Peter’s. The sleeping boys hand tightened it’s hold on Tony, and the tears lessened slightly. Tony relocated onto the couch, pulling Peter’s head into his lap . He held onto Peter tightly, watching with amazement as he slumped into his grip. Distractedly, Tony ran a hand through Peters hair and the last of the terror melted from Peter’s face.

 

  Tony sighed. So this was why Peter was so tired. This was his new normal. Tony winced at that thought. This was his fault. It was because he had taken away the suit and left Peter on his own. And now this adorable kid was going through hell. Subconsciously, he tightened his grip on Peter. He wouldn’t wake up in tears this time.

 

  Peter came to slowly. He was warm and comfortable.  _ Safe. _ No nightmares. No fear. Where was he? He had been… at the compound. Mr Stark told him to get some sleep and then... _ warm. safe. _ Peter sat up slowly, wiping his sleep from his eyes.

“The Spider-Baby lives,” exclaimed a voice behind him. Not just  _ a _ voice, it was  _ Tony Stark _ . Peter spun around, shocked. He realized he had been sleeping on on Tony’s lap and turned red.

“So,” Tony said, smile fading, “Nightmares are a thing now.” Peter blushed brighter and looked away, vaguely aware of a memory prickling at the back of his head. He’d had a nightmare, and some one had been there, he hadn’t been alone. That had been Tony. 

“I-I’m sorry. It’s silly, just, I’m sorry. You shouldn’t have to deal with this, I- You- ”Tony gently grabbed Peter’s head and turned it to face him.

“Peter, it’s not silly. It’s… I have PTSD. Sometimes I have nightmares like that, about af-afghanistan. And panic attacks. It’s normal, you’ve seen some shit. It’s natural.” Tony looked Peter dead in the eyes. Peter stared in amazement.

“You- you have-” Peter wiped at his eyes.

“What?” Tony asked, confused.. Peter threw his arms around him holding on tightly.

“I-I thought it was just stupid and- and nobody cared and- and I was scared. You’d t-take away the suit because I couldn’t- couldn’t even handle a little nightmares ,I-”Peter cried into his face.

“It’s okay, kid. It’s okay..” 

 

  And damn him if he didn’t try to make it okay.


	13. explosion

  The Avengers were back together. And Peter was training with them. Peter! Was training! With the Avengers! Well, some of them. Steve Rogers (oh my god it’s Captain America) and Bucky Barnes(his arm is so cool) stood to the side, still a little unsure around Tony. Wanda also stood on the edge of the group uncertainly. Natasha and Clint, however, were staring Tony and Peter down.

“If we can’t see him, if we can’t see his face, how can we trust him?” Clint demanded.

“We can’t trust him if we know nothing about him.” Nat agreed. Peter stepped back, slightly behind Tony. They couldn’t see his face! It wasn’t that he didn’t trust them, but if they saw his face, then they would know how young he was, and then they’d treat him like a baby. Peter was glad of the mask over his face- it hid the tears welling up in is eyes.

 

  Peter stepped behind Tony, looking away. Tony heard a sniffle. A surprising wave of protectiveness flooded through him at the sound. They made him cry! Acting on a sudden instinct, Tony stepped forward, placing himself solidly between Peter and the others. 

“Spider-Man wants to keep his identity a secret. If you can’t respect that, then we’ll leave. If my trust in him is enough, then let’s train.” For a brief moment, there was a tense silence as he stared Nat and Clint down. Slowly, Nat nodded. Clint turned away.

“Fine.” Clint looked displeased, but grudgingly agreed. Peter stepped closer to Tony 

“Thanks, Mr Stark,” he whispered. Suddenly, he stiffened looking straight up towards the ceiling and narrowing his eyes.

“Somethings about to-”

 

  BOOM.

 

  A shockwave passed through the room, expanding from the ball of fire spreading quickly across the ceiling. The walls crumbled. The ceiling shattered, raining down on the heroes, who threw themselves to the floor. All except Peter. He acted immediately, eyes narrowing in on a large chunk of the roof which had fallen in one piece, firing his webs to catch the large piece, and catching it above his head to stop the smaller pieces from hitting the Avengers. The weight slammed down on im, and he hit the ground on his knees with a pained whimper. Peter barely kept the concrete above the Avengers. As soon as Tony heard Peters pained cry, he sat up, pushing forward to him. 

“Steve, Barnes- help,” he demanded, Fri, can you get my suit?” 

“No, sir. Many of my functions have been damaged by the explosion.” Tony swore. Bucky and Steve pushed up on the concrete, lifting it from Peter, and allowing him to slump forward. Wanda’s magic swirled around the roof to help hold it up. Tony pulled Peter to his chest. Peter curled into him, gasping for breath. Tony pulled Peter into a tighter hug.

“I- I can’t- the vulture- again,I-” He pressed his eyes closed, holding Tony so tightly it hurt slightly.

“Hey, kid, focus on me, okay? You’re safe. You’re safe, I promise. Just breathe with me. In. Out. In. Out.” Peter held onto him, struggling to listen to his instructions. A couple of minutes dragged past. Once Peter pulled his eyes open. He pushed himself up unsteadily, 

“If we only hold it up on one side we might be able to get out,” he suggests, wincing back under the others sharp stares.

“Come on,” Tony ordered,” let it fall on that side, everyone over here.” They did as he said, and managed to open a gap to climb out. The group stumbled over the wreckage, Tony practically carrying Peter. The kid leaned heavily.on him, whimpering slightly when he bumped his arm on a piece of rubble.

“Broken arm?” Peter nodded and Tony took him to the med team. The team whisked him away, with one finally rustle of his hair. Tony sat down on a chunk of stone. Someone trying to kill him, Peter hurt because of him- he slumped back against the concrete with an exhausted sigh.

“Who’s the Vulture?”

“Pleasant fellow. Dropped a building on him.”

“ You talked him through a panic attack.”

“He’s talked me through a few himself.”

“He hugged you.”

“Panic attacks are different. I can’t stand physical contact, He needs it to calm down.”

“He knew we were about to be attacked.”

“Freaky Super-Anxiety. Let’s him know of danger, usually without enough time to stop it.

“Where’d he get it?”

“Long story. It involves Oscorp. Radioactive spiders and bad luck. Or good luck. Depends on how you look at it.” Tony was distracted, mind spinning in circles .  _ He’s hurt and it’s my fault. My fault, my fault, my fault. _ Suddenly, Pepper sat down next to him, surprise jolting him out of the spiral he was going down. He looked up and kissed her softly.

“Hey honey.”

“Hey. I came as soon as I heard. Saw Peter on the way.” Tony nodded.

“He gave me a message to give you. ‘Stop blaming yourself, it’s not your fault’.” Tony looked at the ground. He didn’t agree.

“Come on, let’s go visit him. By the time we get there, he’ll probably be in a cast and at least vaguely conscious. And we both know you’ll keep blaming yourself till you talk to him.” Tony snorted.

“You two know me too well.” Pepper lead him away, and the Avengers watched them leave, before turning to face each other.

“So what, Spider-Man’s his kid?”

“Yeah. I’d say so.”

“Parenthood looks good on him.” A comfortable silence reigned.

“I gotta say, mask or not, I trust him, He’s a very honest seeming person.”

“Yeah, me too.”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm probably not gonna watch Avengers: Endgame for ages, because I honestly don't want to, so I probably will just keep posting as if it never happened.


	14. Laser tag

  “Peter, I am not going to take the worlds mightiest heroes to play laser tag.”

"But-" 

"No. I don't care about your birthday. Not enough to do that. I refuse."

"Pleeeeeeaaaassssseeeee"

"Nooooooooo," he replied, mocking Peter's whininess. 

"Please please please." 

"No. And yanking on my arm won't change my mind." The elevator doors slid open and Tony marched into the kitchen, ignoring the teen that was hanging off his arm. 

"I'm not going to. There are still to many issues between us." Immediately, Peter dropped his arm. 

"Sorry." Tony sighed. 

"It's fine, kid. I'm fine. I've got you now. But I doubt that they want anything to do with me, outside of being returned to society. What happened between us-" 

"Got blown out of proportion. It shouldn't have happened. It doesn't have to define your friendship." 

"But what if it does?" 

"You still have to try. The longer you leave it, the worse it gets." 

"Kid, you have one friend, and I'm fairly certain that he's never tried to kill you." 

"I mean, there was that thing with Liz," Peter reminded him. 

"She now lives on the other side of the country and her father was your arch nemesis."

"But she doesn't hate me."

"OK, while your advice is probably true, I'm not taking the Avengers to play laser tag."

"Why not? It sounds like fun," said another voice. Both men spun to face the sound. Nat was sitting on a couch in the next room. 

"What are you doing here?" 

"I came to find out why you finally reached out to us, not to mention how forcefully you refused to let us come anywhere near the tower. I'm guessing it's something to do with him." 

"So you decided to break the one rule I gave you?" Natasha glanced down, having the decency to look embarrassed. Tony stepped forward, placing himself between the two spiders, but Peter stepped around him and walked up to Nat. 

"Hi. I'm Peter Parker." He glanced back at Tony, eyes questioning. The older man shrugged. 

"Your secret to tell, kid." Peter turned back to Natasha. 

"Spiderman. I'm Spiderman."

"Nice to meet you. Natasha Romanoff." Peter smiled up at her, and Natasha returned the look, before turning back to Tony. 

"We don't hate you, Tony. Steve is still a little wary, but he doesn't hate you either." Tony sighed, looking briefly towards Peter's hopeful face. 

"You can… extend the invitation. I guess. August 10th." Peter leaped forward to Tony, enveloping him in a hug. 

"Yeah yeah, I know, I'm great, OH JESUS PETER PUT ME DOWN I DIDN'T SIGN UP FOR THIS!!" Peter dropped him back to the floor sheepishly, still leaning on him. Tony wrapped an arm around Peter. 

"You really need to practice controlling your strength." Peter smiled up at him. 

 

AUGUST 10TH

 

Peter looked at the people surrounding him. As well as him and Tony, 6 others had come: Rhodey, Sam, Nat, Wanda, and both super soldiers. 

He smiled widely, muttering, "This is the coolest thing ever," under his breath. Tony laughed. 

"So. Teams?" 

"I'm gonna stay with you, Mr Stark."

"Good to know I'm still the favourite."

"Favourite has nothing to do with it. Rhodey and Sam are far less powerful without their tech, Bucky and Steve can't really use their strength, Wanda's power will give away her position immediately, and Natasha's too scary." Tony laughed again. Nat and Wanda looked at each other. 

"Team?" 

"Team." Bucky stepped closer to Steve. 

"Let's start." Peter bounced over to the racks of equipment. Soon, they entered the maze like halls. Steve and Bucky walked back to back covering for each other constantly. Wanda used her power to distract and attract the others while Nat picked them off. Sam and Rhodey took a corner, making it into their own little fort occasionally darting out to attack people. Peter lead Tony into a corner. 

"You know I don't have my tech either. How am I any better than Rhodey?" 

"You think you can upgrade our weapons a little bit?" 

"I guess, perhaps a little," Tony smiled. 

"We got this." Peter set out, sneaking silently across the walls. His gun was vastly upgraded. It fired a constant beam wide enough to catch the others targets easily and the lights on the targets on his own chest were dimmed until barely visible. Tony refused to do more but it was quite enough. Peter snuck through the halls hunting down the others by the slightest sound. In the end, Tony and Peter won. Nat and Wanda followed. Then Steve and Bucky, closely followed by Rhodey and Sam. Lazer tag became a bit of a Thing. Sam sulked every time. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp, I'm back. Watch me ignore Endgame entirely.


	15. Another Warehouse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter has terrible luck with large empty buildings.

  “It’s going to collapse! Everyone get out!" Steve yelled. Tony fired up his repulsors flying away from quickly crumbling building like a bullet from a gun. The crumbling of concrete and snapping of metal crashed through the air as he dropped to the ground next to the quinjet where the rest of the team was waiting for or heading towards. Tony inspected the other Avengers for wounds, before suddenly remembering the extra member. Peter. He'd been nearby when the fight broke out and had swung by to lend a hand. Quietly, Tony asked Friday where his protege was. 

"It appears Master Peter is trapped under the rubble, sir. Would you like to contact him?" 

"Yes!" 

"Calling Spider-Man." A moment of silence, then… 

"Mr Stark!" gasped a panicked voice over the comm's link. "I can't- I can't breathe it's crushing me please Mr stark-" Tony's repulsors roared to life and he shot back towards the warehouse. 

"Stark, what are you doing?" "Spider-Man's stuck under the rubble. Give me a minute." He landed  haphazardly next to the remains of the building. 

"Fri, how do I get to him without bringing down more weight on him?" His AI began to direct him as to how to reach Peter immediately. The process, while only a few minutes, seemed to take hours. Tony could hear the young superhero gasping for breath. The occasional grunt of pain when he bumped a slab of concrete he shouldn't kept him focused. He could not stuff this up. Finally, he pulled back a large chunk of concrete to reveal Spider-Man. A large metal support pillar lay over his stomach and a smaller misshapen rod was squashed down by it, pushing against his neck. He was clawing at it weakly as he struggled to get air into his lungs. Tony ran forward, his metal gloves snapping the bar and freeing Peter's neck. Peter pulled off his mask revealing a tear streaked face as he gasped for air. Tony cut through the large metal pillar with a laser pulling it away from Peter. Peter didn't move only pressed his hand tighter against his side. Tony glanced down and noticed blood leaking from beneath Peter's hands as he scooped up his protege and took off for the compound at full speed. 

"What's wrong with him, Fri?"

"It appears he has a punctured lung, Sir." Tony swore colourfully. 

"Will he be OK?" Tony couldn't hide the fear in his voice. 

"Assuming he gets the necessary medical care which can be found at the compound or at the nearest hospital in the next five minutes he should be fine, sir. He has used some of his webs to seal the wound, which is helping to keep him alive at the moment.

"How long till we arrive at the compound?" 

"Four minutes." Tony swore again. The rest of the journey passed in silence. As soon as Tony crashed into the compound, a group of medical professionals wheeled him away. Tony didn't know what to do with himself. He was too worried to work, too stressed to sleep, to wound up to sit down and wait. Instead, he paced the waiting room a few times before deciding to call May. 

"Hi- uh hi Ms Parker."

"What happened?" The worry in her voice triggered a wave of guilt. 

"Don't worry, he's fine. Well, he will be. A punctured lung."

"What! Stark, you said you were going to keep him safe. Out of the big stuff. What happened?" 

"We were in his area. Another warehouse collapsed on him." On the other side of the call, May sighed 

"I'll be there in an hour. My shifts almost over- keep him alive till then." Tony laughed sadly and ended the call. That went better than expected. Soon, he was back to pacing. 

It seemed to be an eternity later when the doctor walked out of the medical wing, telling him everything was fine and that Peter would wake up in a few hours. The medical wings stark white walls seemed to swallow him as he walked towards Peter's room. When he stepped inside his eyes fixed on Peter immediately. God, he looked so small! Peter seemed even smaller curled up in the large bed, and he didn't seem like the same person at all without the cheesy science pun t-shirts or vibrant costume. Tony perched on the side of the bed with a worried sigh. He shouldn't have let Peter help. If he had just said that they didn't need him, that Peter could continue his Patrol- but he knew that without Peter, they would have lost some civilians. Damn it, why did Peter have to be the one to get hurt? Out of all the team, why him? Tony pushed the hair out of Peter's face and leaned down to press a kiss against the top of his head. It was a very domestic thing to do, and he wasn't sure why he did it, but when he said back up and saw that Peter's wide brown eyes had flickered open, he felt very exposed. Peter sat up facing him, watching him carefully for a second. Tony couldn't seem to meet his eyes. The teen shuffle over to next to Tony, pausing for a moment before wrapping his arms around his mentor and resting his head on Tony's chest. Tony froze for a second, before returning the gesture. As soon as he did, Peter relaxed feeling into him in a way that warmed Tony's heart.

"You have the worst luck with warehouses." 

"Maybe I should avoid them altogether." 

"That sounds good to me. You had a punctured lung, for god's sake! You'll make me go grey early." 

"No I won't, you're already old."

"Oh, polite." Peter smiled up at him.

"I learnt from the best."

"Maybe I shouldn't have taught you to be quite so sassy." 

From where she stood in the doorway, May smiled.

"I find him to still be quite lovely. Don't know what you're talking about." She walked forward, kissed the top of Peter's head, and sat down on the small chair next to the bed, grinning. "You two look cute together." Immediately, they moved away from each other. May laughed, pushing Peter back into Tony's arms.

Peter smiled at her, and curled up in Tony's lap. Tony still looked slightly scared, but he looked down at Peter with a soft smile. His reputation be damned, it was worth it for the look on Peter's face. 


End file.
